Microsimulation-based impact assessment of the Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) system for work zone safety

Work zone is area of a highway or urban network which is under heavy construction to build new facilities or expand or maintain the existing infrastructure. Work zones can potentially cause significant disruptions to local traffic due to the dynamic nature of construction and the uncertainties involved in its related logistics The main focus of this research is to evaluate potential benefits of developing and deploying Vehicle-to-Vehicle communication system, V2V, to improve safety around work zones. To assess the benefits associated with V2V, micro-simulation traffic modeling will be employed to precisely model and implement a Connected Vehicle environment. Micro-simulation can provide construction logisticians, transportation agencies and material suppliers with valuable information on the traffic conditions of the existing networks. Two application programming interfaces have been developed within the model; The first API simulates communication between V2V-enabled vehicles which results in Connected Vehicles taking alternate routes to pass the hazard zone which are affected by the incident or lane closure due to the work zone. The second API simulates random incidents and the third API collects statistics associated with safety indexes. This research is also trying to quantify the benefits associated with developing a Connected Vehicle system and assessing the performance of the system under different congestion levels, rates of market penetration, and lane closure configurations. The outcome of this study would benefit different jurisdictions in construction management, transportation management, supply chain management and construction logistic.